What Is Telemarketing? (Skills And Salary Of A Telemarketer)

Updated 21 August 2022

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Telemarketing is the technique of selling products or services for increasing a company's revenue. Often, it is an essential aspect of the sales team because telemarketing creates new business opportunities. If you are in sales or interested in becoming a telemarketer, you may benefit from learning everything about telemarketing to create new business opportunities. In this article, we answer “what is telemarketing?”, explore its types, understand the objective of telemarketing, learn what a telemarketer does and how much they earn and discover tips to become a telemarketer.

What Is Telemarketing?

What is telemarketing, it can be described as a two-way marketing technique where a telemarketer sells and promotes its product or services via a telephone. A telephone or mobile phone acts as the main channel of communication. Although telemarketing does not involve face-to-face interactions with clients, it focuses on building relationships with potential customers. Often, telemarketing involves pitching a product or service to customers, but an organisation can use it for surveys or information gathering. For instance, a retail store may use telemarketing to understand the customer's willingness to accept a new range of eatables.

When a telemarketer calls a new customer who has yet to purchase, they perform cold calling. Many industries such as home security systems, credit card companies, financial services, internet services and charitable organisations rely on cold calling or telemarketing to increase their customer base.

Types Of Telemarketing

Here are four types of telemarketing activities a telemarketer may perform in their day-to-day job duties:

Outbound telemarketing

In outbound telemarketing, a telemarketer makes cold calls to prospective customers and businesses. These professionals make calls from the lead generated and telephone numbers acquired by the marketing department. An example of outbound telemarketing may be a financial service calling potential customers in their local zip code to promote their investment options.

Inbound telemarketing

An inbound telemarketing strategy involves a customer making the first point of contact with a business. These calls and inquiries result from a company's advertising and sales effort. In this telemarketing, customers already have an interest in a company's products and services. An inbound telemarketer answers customers' queries and provides more information to convert these prospects into paying customers. An example of inbound telemarketing may be a company discussing a customer's inquiry after signing up for their free trial.

Business to business telemarketing

Business to business or B2B telemarketing is a strategy that occurs when one business promotes and sells its products to other businesses. This telemarketing primarily focuses on building long-lasting relationships because it involves fewer calls when compared to inbound and outbound telemarketing. An example of B2B telemarketing is a tire manufacturing company contacting automobile manufacturers to sell their car and truck tires.

Business to consumer telemarketing

Business to consumer or B2C telemarketing is a marketing strategy for consumers rather than other businesses. This telemarketing focuses on leads generated by the marketing department. B2C telemarketing focuses on small consumers, unlike outbound telemarketing that focuses on a large group of consumers.

What Are The Objectives Of Telemarketing?

Here are a few objectives of telemarketing:

Create awareness about a company's product or services
Book orders
Set up appointments with the marketing or sales department
Conduct market surveys
Invite the prospective audience to visit a company's store or office

What Does A Telemarketer Do?

Apart from selling products over a phone, a telemarketer performs various duties, such as:

Answer incoming calls from potential customers
Communicate customer's questions, feedback and concerns to management
Use scripts to provide customers with more information about a product or service
Maintain an accurate record of customer accounts
Generate sales lead per day
Maintain telephone, mobile phone, computer and other equipment used in telemarketing
Communicate empathetically and politely with customers
Train new telemarketers

Average Salary Of A Telemarketer

The average salary of a telemarketer is ₹14,651 per month. Often, telemarketers receive bonuses for reaching their weekly and monthly targets. They have a commission component in their salary structure, which they earn with every deal they close with customers. Also, telemarketers who work as direct-hire employees earn more than those hired contractually. Their salary may depend upon their job location. For instance, the average salary of a telemarketer in Gurgaon is ₹17,614 per month, whereas the average salary in Noida is ₹15,803 per month.

Skills Of A Telemarketer

Apart from having excellent skills to communicate over the phone, you require these skills for a rewarding and fulfilling career in telemarketing:

Communication

Successful telemarketers require excellent communication skills to start and maintain meaningful conversations with strangers. Using their skills, they explain complex products and services to customers in an understandable manner. These professionals require good listening skills to listen to a customer's problem and find solutions. This helps in providing a seamless and customised customer experience.

Knowledge of telephone and computers

A good telemarketing professional can use different telephone systems with ease. They may use computers to answer customers' queries regarding their products or services. Also, as they maintain a customer's database, these professionals require proficiency in customer relations management software.

Interpersonal skills

Being able to create positive interactions and build rapport with the customer is desirable for this job role. Selling on the phone requires excellent interpersonal skills to convince a customer to make a purchase. This involves using patience, empathy and persuasion to convert a lead into a paying customer.

Knowledge of sales

Employers prefer telemarketers who can meet sales targets over the phone, fix appointments with customers and follow-up. The ability to convince leads to convert to customers and ensure that existing buyers purchase more products is desirable. Knowledge and experience in sales can help you become a successful telemarketer.

Ability to multitask

The ability to multitask different activities while keeping track of other tasks is important for a fulfilling career as a telemarketer. A part of your work-day may involve checking emails and taking notes while speaking to a customer. With multitasking, you can save time and increase your productivity.

Adaptability

A telemarketer talks to many customers every day and each customer has a different opinion, queries and preferences. Employers want candidates who can adapt to talking to different people from diverse backgrounds. Reading the person's tone and pitch and adapting your tone based on this can help you become a successful telemarketer.

Organisational skills

During interaction with customers, organisation is essential to deliver timely services. This means being able to navigate between different windows in a customer relations management system. Organisation is a vital skill for taking notes and delivering services that encourage a customer to purchase.

Educational Requirement Of A Telemarketer

The educational requirement for becoming a telemarketer depends upon the company for which you are applying. Some companies prefer hiring candidates with 10+2 or equivalent. In contrast, others may prefer someone with a bachelor's degree in sales, marketing or related areas. More than the educational qualification, employers look at the skill set of a candidate. They prefer hiring candidates with knowledge and experience in sales, marketing and customer service. Also, to become a telemarketer, candidates require a licence from the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI).

Tips For Becoming A Telemarketer

For becoming a successful telemarketer, follow these tips:

Have a positive attitude: Customers respond better to telemarketers who are empathetic and have a positive attitude. Instead of getting discouraged by customer replies, relax for a few minutes before making another call.
Show interest in your customers: A telemarketer's job is to build a positive relationship with customers, so it is essential to show interest in what a customer is talking. To keep the conversation moving, ask questions that can help you understand a customer's problem.
Stay calm: To build rapport and close more deals, it is important to remain calm and use your natural tone in tense situations. Instead of giving details about the products or services you are selling, listen to a customer's problem and provide your product as a solution.
Customise your telemarketing script: Rather than using a monotonous and generic script, focus on customising your script to make your conversation more personal.
Make as many as possible calls: The volume of calls you make decides how successful you are. The more calls you make, the higher are your chances of closing more deals.

Work Environment Of A Telemarketer

Usually, a telemarketer works in a call centre and it is a complete desk job requiring no travel. Based on the company's policies, telemarketers may work from home. These professionals are a part of a large sales team. Depending upon the customer base, a telemarketer may work in day or night shift. To cancel outside noises, a telemarketer uses headphones with a mic when interacting with leads and customers.

Salary figures reflect data listed on Indeed Salaries at time of writing. Salaries may vary depending on the hiring organisation and a candidate's experience, academic background and location.